


I Never Told You What I Saw in the Dark

by dadtrickstump



Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: AU, Creepy, Demons, Ghost Frank Iero, Ghost!Frank, M/M, Married Patrick Stump/Pete Wentz, Paranormal, Past Major Character Death (he’s still there though obviously), Protective Frank Iero, Protective Pete Wentz, Punk Frank Iero, Revenge Era Gerard Way, Teacher Gerard Way, Teen Frank Iero, paranormal investigator - Freeform, small town AU, teacher!gerard, this is shit lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-18
Updated: 2018-06-17
Packaged: 2019-05-24 19:10:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14960426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dadtrickstump/pseuds/dadtrickstump
Summary: Then the door slammed shut, all the wind stopped, and the room was dark yet again, save for the very faint glowing of the knife in Gerard’s hand. He looked down at it and sucked in a breath, carved into the handle in Frank’s quickly scribbled handwriting, was a message on each side.“Stay away from me. The more time you spend, the more they know.”And on the other side,“But if you do decide to stay,I won’t let them get you..”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> hiya lmao this is shitty and I’ve been working on it for forever and it’s goin’ okay, yknow? updates will be spontaneous and inconsistent as hell, but it’ll get done. comment if you like it, i like constructive criticism too. :) comments help me stay motivated.   
> have a nice day and enjoy this weirdly paced fanfic.

Most of Gerards’ students were, well, they were normal. Again, most of them. There were a few who stretched the definition of what could possibly be considered average, with perhaps a couple abnormal qualities and interests, but not that much outside of the status quo. And then there were about three kids (not really kids, since Gerard taught at a high school), that were quirky in the best way. Those were always his favorite students, the ones who were hated by the vast majority of their peers, but for the most part, tried not to care. They were always the best to have in class, always asked the best questions, and let Gerard respond in a completely honest way. But not once, in the few years he’d been teaching, had he ever experienced anything, more so anyone, who was as insanely ‘odd’ as someone who transferred to his class in the middle of the year. No, this kid was most definitely one of a kind, and Gerard seriously did not know how to handle him. Not at all.   
That day had started out pretty normally, Gerard woke up to the blaring earrape of his alarm at precisely 5:45 am, just like every other day. He snoozed the thing maybe one too many times, and finally got up around 6:20. He got dressed quickly (since it was a forty minute drive to the school from his house, and at this point he was going to be so fucking late), and grabbed a muffin off of his counter, violently spitting it out onto the street as he neared his car, seriously, that thing had to have been at least three weeks old. He hopped into his car with one shoe on and the other in his left hand.   
Once he finally arrived at the school, he glanced at his watch, which told him he still had ten minutes until class started. He took a few second to put his other shoe on, he’d driven the whole way without it, and aggravatedly stared at the school. It wasn’t much to look at, simply rotting bricks that were practically peeling apart, and old, wilting willow trees. It was eerily quiet, which was odd, since this was usually the time that the teenagers would come out, talk, and beat eachother up. Gerard could only see one person, a pretty short looking boy in a black hoodie, who was sitting beside a sleek, silver volvo. He didn’t think he’d ever seen this kid before, which was creepy in itself, because this tiny, pathetic school in Echo, Louisiana, generally didn’t get too many new people. Gerard himself lived closer to a city, and simply made the drive because it was the only teaching job he could find.   
And wait, was this kid smoking? Teenagers in Echo were normally pretty well behaved, and damn, this smoking, new, boy gave Gerard chills. He pushed the thought from his head and hurriedly grabbed his briefcase out of his car, and walked towards the heavy black doors. As he passed the volvo, the boy looked up at him with a face devoid of emotion. Gerard stopped in his tracks, he just couldn’t move, the only thing he could feel was the thump of his own heart, which was beating way too fast. This kids gaze was fucking intense, and made Gerard uneasy. All he could think was “holy shit holy shit holy shit,”, and the absolute worst part of it, was that he didn’t know why. This boy wasn’t even doing anything, he was simply looking at him, and suddenly Gerard was a complete and utter mess. As the kid looked back down, Gerard swore he could see the ghost of a smirk on his face. He quickly cleared his throat and brushed it off as a result of his mostly sleepless night, and stormed off to his first period class. 

 

Gerards’ day was, to put it bluntly, shitty. He had mostly managed to forget about the event that morning, and was trying to focus on his actual job, which was to teach. And finally, dear god, finally, it was his ninth period class, the last of the day. With the added benefit of it being a study hall. He only had three kids in his study hall, and usually all three of them spent it in the cafeteria. He was about to sit down when he heard a little ‘tap’ on his door.   
“Come in,” He mumbled absentmindedly.   
“Good afternoon, Mr. Way. As I’m sure you already know, we have a new student,” The office secretary chirped happily. Gerard’s eyes widened and he gulped. “Frank here is in your study hall,” She told him, as if he hadn’t already guessed. Gerard smiled tightly as she skipped out of the room.   
The kid, Frank, avoided Gerards eyes and sat in a seat. His eyes, which were a beautiful hazel color, and honestly made Gerard’s heart skip a beat, drifted around the room warily before finally settling on Gerard. They sat in what Gerard thought had to have been a tense silence, but Frank didn’t look on edge at all. He raised an eyebrow at Gerard and looked at a book on his desk.   
“Can I see that?” He asked after a little while. Gerard could see the interest in his eyes, despite how firm Frank had plastered an indifferent look on his face. Frank’s voice had surprised Gerard a little bit. He’d expected it to be scratchy and full of arrogance, but it wasn’t. Far from it actually, his voice was quiet and cautious, mixed with a little bit of something Gerard guessed was probably curiosity. He nodded and held out the book to him. When Frank reached out to grab it from him, they’re hands brushed for a second, and Gerard immediately noticed how cold Frank’s hand was.   
Frank looked at him with an odd expression, almost as if he expected Gerard to do something. Of course, he didn’t, because he had no idea why Frank was looking at him like that. Once Frank seemed to realize nothing was happening, he visibly relaxed and the hint of a smile lit up his face as he opened up the book. Gerard stared at him for a few minutes and yes, it was horrible for him to be thinking about how absolutely hot Frank was, since he was a student and probably under the age of eighteen. He needed to think of something to distract him.   
“So, um.. Where did you move from?” He started awkwardly. Frank quirked an eyebrow and looked amused.  
“Small talk, Mr. Way? I suppose I wouldn’t expect any more from a man who almost tripped over his own feet this morning. May I ask why that is? Am I that terrifying?” He made a little pouty face, which didn’t help rid Gerard of his thoughts at all, and tilted his head.   
“Oh, you just uh.. Surprised me is all.” Gerard would never tell him about the real reason he almost fell this morning. “Most people around here don’t roll up into school with a cigarette in their hand driving a volvo. Is that your parents car?” He asked. Frank shrugged nonchalantly and set down his book.   
“It’s my car. I don’t live with my parents, I turned eighteen a couple a months ago, so the cigs are perfectly legal, thank you very much.” Gerard finding out Frank was eighteen could be a good or a bad thing. The negative part of it was that now Gerard would make up some fucked up reason why thinking about your student in such a way was okay. On the plus side, at least he wasn’t a complete pedophile.   
“You never really answered my first question.” Frank rolled his eyes and leaned his head on one of his partially gloved hands. It was at that point that Gerard noticed his tattoos, he couldn’t see all of them, just a few letters above his knuckles, since he was wearing fingerless gloves.   
“New Jersey.” He said simply and narrowed his eyes at Gerard. “You don’t live around here either,” He guessed. Gerard gave him a pointed look.   
“Why do you figure that?” He asked, genuinely curious.   
“Your car isn’t exactly one I’ve seen around. Plus you don't have a southern accent.”   
“I live about forty minutes away, closer to the city.” Gerard told him and shrugged. Frank looked at him inquisitively.   
“Well this is a shitty place to choose to work when there are, or so I’ve heard, ‘great opportunities’ in the city. Why here?” Gerard had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing at his blatant use of the word ‘shitty’.   
“Only place I could get a job after I graduated from college. And while I don’t have a problem with it, I would watch your language around most of the teachers here.” Gerard stood up and looked at the clock. “You can grab your bag if you want to, there’s only a few minutes left of class.”   
“I don’t have a bag. And that doesn’t matter to me.” The bell rang and Frank stood up, slid on a jacket, and smirked at Gerard. “You know, Mr. Way, your car looks about one bad day away from breaking down.” He told him as he walked out of the room.   
Gerard rolled his eyes and grabbed his briefcase, locked up his classroom, and walked out to his car. As he was doing so, he realized one of his socks was inside out, which definitely did not cause him to make a really high pitched whine of annoyance. He opened up his door and climbed in, shoving the key in the ignition and started it. Or, he tried to. The damned thing wouldn’t turn on. Gerard slammed his fist pathetically against the steering wheel a few times, profanities spewing carelessly from his mouth.   
“Need a ride, Mr. Way?” Gerard looked up to see a devious looking Frank leaning against a tree. He had his hands shoved in his pockets and his hair was blowing around in the wind. Gerard narrowed his eyes and thought for a minute. “Your car looks about one bad day away from breaking down.” But.. That couldn’t be more than a coincidence, could it? Gerard had left barely a few minutes after Frank, that surely wasn’t enough time for him to jack up a car, was it? He didn’t think so.  
“My house is pretty far away.” Gerard told him hesitantly. He didn’t think that spending too much time with Frank would be such a great idea. Frank shrugged.   
“Where is it?”   
“Near Simmesport.” Gerard told him and got out of the car.   
“I live ten minutes away from Simmesport. So it isn’t very out of the way. Now do you need a ride?” He asked again. Gerard sighed and bit his lip, considering. He didn’t have any other way to get home, so he really didn’t have any other options. He had a strange feeling (which may have been based off of the delighted glint in Frank’s eyes) that his student knew that.  
“I guess..” He agreed reluctantly. The grin that lit up Frank’s face was absolutely stunning, and it took all of Gerard’s self control not to smile back, even if the grin itself was a little creepy.  
“What would you do without me?” He drawled and practically skipped gleefully to his car. The car was even nicer close up, and Gerard had no idea how Frank could have afforded it.  
“Did your parents buy you this?” He wondered and got into the passenger's seat. It was comfortable and expensive looking, he noticed as Frank climbed into the drivers side and started the car. The engine hummed to life with an aesthetically pleasing purr.  
“I bought it when I was sixteen.” He said matter-of-factly. He pulled out of the parking lot and gave Gerard a squinty-eyed, lopsided grin. “Why so many questions about my car?”  
“I just don’t see why if you could afford a car like this, and you don’t live with your parents, why you would live in a town like this one.” Gerard truly didn’t understand. The last three years he’d been teaching here had been hell, so he couldn’t imagine why someone would come here by choice.   
“I don’t live in Echo. I just go to school here. I don’t technically live in any town, my house is in between towns, which reminds me, before I drop you off I need to stop at my house really quickly.” The wolfish grin that spread across Frank’s face seriously freaked Gerard out. “If you don’t mind, of course.”   
It wasn’t exactly like Gerard could object, Frank had been kind enough to offer him a ride (although Gerard had a faint suspicion, which despite his best efforts, wouldn’t go away, that Frank did something to his car), and he basically had to say he didn’t mind. Even if he did indeed mind. He really did not want to be in the middle of nowhere alone with Frank. He also had a nagging feeling that Frank was, for the most part, dodging his questions.   
“That’s fine.” Gerard replied with a tight smile. Frank chuckled and tapped his fingers on his steering wheel once or twice.  
“Perfect.” 

Gerard had been right- Frank’s house was in the middle of nowhere. The middle of the woods, to be specific.   
“It’s right up here.” Frank told him and turned on to a long, winding road that was horribly muddy and bumpy. They pulled into a narrow driveway and Frank stopped the car. Gerard was completely shocked, he’d expected the house to be nice, obviously, but not as nice as it was. It was a huge, almost mansion sized house with fake wooden logs on the walls to make it appear like a cabin. There was a strip of church-like stained glass windows above the front door, that glistened and cast colorful rays of light across the uncut, field-like lawn in the mid afternoon light. The front yard was beautiful, surrounded by tall trees with different colored flowers covering the whole thing.   
Frank hopped out of the car and waited for Gerard, before starting down a little path marked with stones that led to the front door. Gerard followed him, and despite how beautiful it was, he was strangely on edge. He noticed some of the flowers drooping a bit as they walked by; flowers Gerard hadn’t seen drooping before. The more he watched, the more it seemed as if they dropped as Frank walked by, as if his sheer presence was enough to make them shrivel and wilt. He shook his head, that was completely and utterly ridiculous. God, he really needed to sleep tonight, his thoughts had been crazy all day- from thinking about Frank, his student, as hot, to thinking that the kid would fuck up his car.   
“You can come inside if you want to.” Frank told Gerard and opened the door. As soon as he spoke, it was like all of the animals stopped making noise, or nervously held their breath. Gerard hesitantly walked inside, looking around in awe, and awkwardly stood by the door. Frank ran up the stairs, and Gerard couldn’t help himself from snooping a little bit. He curiously walked towards a small door in the corner of the living room, checking over his shoulder and listening for Frank’s footsteps before quietly opening it and walking inside. The room was pitch black, no windows or anything of the sort, the only light source came from where Gerard had opened the door. He flipped on a light and his eyes widened, his mouth falling open.   
All over the walls, in black sharpie, were words. But it was odd, they seemed more like lyrics, maybe. There were notebooks littering the floor, only a few were closed, but most were open, strewn haphazardly about the room. As Gerard walked further into the room, it only got harder and harder to walk on the actual floor, rather than stray pieces of paper. This room was creepy as hell.   
“People die.” A voice said from behind him. He whipped around and saw Frank, who was staring at him intensely. “Beauty fades.” He continued, taking a step closer to Gerard. Instinctually Gerard stepped back. Frank’s voice was quiet and emotionless, different from his usual amused tone. “Love changes. And you will always be alone.” He finished. Gerard was at a loss for words, his breath coming out in little gasps. He didn’t realize until this point how much this weird kid actually scared him.   
Frank bent down and picked up a sharpie, then wrote what he had just said on the wall beside him. “I like quotes.” He said and looked back at Gerard. Gerard opened his mouth to respond, but no words came out. “It’s rude to go through other people’s things.” His voice held no edge of irritation or anger, so Gerard supposed he had that to be grateful for. It was almost.. empty.   
“I’m sorry.” Gerard forced out after a minute, calming down a little bit. Frank smiled and shrugged nonchalantly.   
“Don’t be. I should be the one apologizing to you, normally I inform people that when they snoop in my house that they’ll find things they don’t want to see.” He tilted his head and read through some of the words on the wall. “This one,” He pointed to a quote. “‘Riggedy riggedy white, come and spend the night. We’ll play some games; some wild, some tame, cause if you will- you might.’” He read it and glanced up at Gerard. “This one was here when I moved in. I thought it was cool, and I know a lot of weird quotes and sayings, and have a lot of strange ones I come up with, so I decided to write them here.” He explained. Gerard nodded, the rest of the fear fading from him.   
“Which ones did you come up with on your own?” He asked, genuinely curious. This boy was odd, and it intrigued Gerard. Frank had an edge that drew Gerard to him, as unhealthy as that sounded. He wanted to know more about him, but at the same time, there was a constant feeling of impending doom, like something bad was about to happen.   
“Uhm..” Frank bit his thumbnail nervously, and looked around. Gerard’s breath caught in his throat as a cool breeze swept through the room- there were no windows in here. He shivered a little bit and watched Frank wander over to the wall opposite of them. “All of them on this wall, and a few on the others.” He paused for a second, his face tilted down, before speaking again.  
“I should probably take you home before I decide to kidnap you.” He said, his face serious.   
“I agree. That’d be a real problem since I don’t have any clothes here. I’d start to stink after a while.” Frank cracked a hint of a smile and looked back up.   
“That would be a minor setback. Especially since none of my clothes would fit you, cause I’m shorter than you. Let’s go.” He ushered Gerard out of the room and shut the door behind them. Gerard was starting to wonder what other weird things this house held, though he figured he’d never really get to figure it out, since he’d probably never be back.  
Once they were safely (or at least, as safe as Gerard ever felt around this peculiar student) inside the car, Frank turned to him.   
“Since your car is still broken, I’ll pick you up before school tomorrow.” He said matter-of-factly, leaving Gerard no room for any sort of argument. Gerard chewed on his lower lip nervously.   
“You really don’t-“ He started, before being cut off by Frank shoving a finger to his lips to shush him.   
“But I’m going to.” The facial expression he held, combined with the tone of voice he spoke in, was really freaking Gerard out. They sat like that long enough to make Gerard feel sick, his breath stuttering out unevenly and the color in his face draining, and then Frank smiled and pulled his hand away. “It’s no trouble, really.”   
“I– okay.” Frank turned back to the wheel and whipped out of his driveway towards Gerard’s house.   
“What um.. what did you need to get?” Gerard inquired. Franks face took on a mysterious edge, and he hummed dismissively.   
“Oh, y’know, things.” He responded guardedly, waving his hand as a sign of nonchalance. “Nothing that matters.” Gerard dropped the subject. “What’s the address?” Frank piqued, all traces of previous hostility erased from his face.   
“What?” Gerard blinked, he was sure he was going to get whiplash from how often this kids’ attitude changed.   
“Your address. I dunno where I’m going.”   
“Oh.” He told him the address and they sat in an uncomfortable (at least on Gerard’s part) silence. Once they got to Gerard’s house, Frank abruptly halted the car, causing Gerard to lurch forward, and turned to him.   
“I’ll be here at six thirty tomorrow.” He told Gerard simply. Gerard sighed and climbed out of the car, and immediately Frank sped away at a speed that was definitely illegal and very dangerous.   
Gerard meandered inside his house which, well, felt extremely safe and home-y compared to being around Frank, sat down on his couch, and pulled out his phone to text his brother, Mikey.   
This is gonna sound fckn crazy, but theres this student i have who im convinced is insane. He sent it and stared at the ceiling contemplatively.   
that is pretty crazy. what makes u think that?  
he’s really strange, he told me that my car looked like it was bouta break down and then it wouldn’t start like five minutes later, and he just conveniently happened to be right next to it when I looked up.   
Mikey’s reply came pretty quickly.   
You’d know better than I would, Gee, just be careful yknow? kids can totally be serial killers. those lil fuckers are ruthless.  
Gerard smiled to himself, texted back an “okay” and set his phone down. His stomach reminded him of his neglected need to feed himself, so he got up to make dinner. The rest of the evening passed pretty normally, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that someone, something was looming over him.


	2. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Then another thump. Another light. Another lifeless body. Then another. Then another. It continued until the entire room but one small corner was lit up, and the floor was completely covered in bodies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is shorter but yknow whatever i guess lmao. it’s uhhh posted. so. after this it gets interesting i think idk probably. i don’t have the next chapter written yet, so suggestions are rad, if ya got any.   
> if you’re reading this at two am instead of sleeping, then congrats, this is fer u. cause me too.

Gerard was sitting in a completely dark room, with one flickering desk lamp illuminating the opposite side of the room he was sitting in. He could only move his head, it was like every other part of him was strapped down, but he couldn’t see enough to say if this was true. It was terrifyingly silent, the only sound Gerard could hear was his own loud breathing, until he heard a loud thump in the dark. A small light turned on, and now Gerard could see what caused the thump. There was a body, a teenage girls’ body, dead and cold at his feet, her eyes entirely black and rolled back into her head. Her mouth was agape, and a thick, black substance was oozing from within her. Gerard’s breath stuttered and his eyes widened.   
Then another thump. Another light. Another lifeless body. Then another. Then another. It continued until the entire room but one small corner was lit up, and the floor was completely covered in bodies. Gerard was gasping for air, his chest rising up and down sporadically. He heard a tiny, little noise, that shut him up. It sounded almost like a laugh. Then he heard it again, coming from the one pitch black corner of the room. It didn’t stop this time, though, instead it continued until it was all Gerard could hear, loud, psychotic and menacing cackling.  
And then the light turned on. Frank was staring at him in a white suit and black tie, covered head to toe in blood, eternally painted red. When the light turned on and his eyes met Gerard’s, the laughter erupting from his chest seized, and was replaced with a small, broken, twitchy smile. His grin only grew as he reached behind him and picked up a long, sharp knife that glistened against the bright lights.   
Gerard gulped and squeezed his eyes shut, now fully aware that he could not move, ready for it to be over. But the Frank’s cold, bony fingers wrapped around his wrist, not tightly, just a gentle touch. Gerard let his eyes flicker open and stared at the younger boy. Frank looked distraught as he brought his hand up and moved Gerard’s hair out of his face, leaned in, and whispered so close his lips were brushing Gerard’s ear,   
“This wasn’t me.” He unlocked Gerard from the restraints and placed the handle of the knife in his palm, then curled his fingers around it. “But I don’t expect you to believe me. I'm the one covered in blood and all.” He took a step back and raised his palms, lips curved down into a frown. He looked innocent.   
“Who was it then?” Gerard asked, voice wavering and cracked. Frank smiled humorlessly.   
“Them. I’m not like them. They want to make me go away. That’s why I’m in Echo.” As he spoke, wind started spinning around them until it was so loud he could barely hear a thing.   
“Who is them?” Gerard yelled above the noise. He moved a strand of hair out of his eyes to better see Frank, but when he looked at him, men in black hockey masks, who were covered in even more blood than Frank, were dragging him away towards a small door, where the wind was coming from. “Frank!” He screamed. Frank raised his head and mouthed to him one sentence, his face twisted up into a strained grin, a crazy glint in his eyes, so softly, yet Gerard heard it like the kid was standing with his mouth against Gerard’s ear.   
“Don’t let them get you.”   
Then the door slammed shut, all the wind stopped, and the room was dark yet again, save for the very faint glowing of the knife in Gerard’s hand. He looked down at it and sucked in a breath, carved into the handle in what he assumed was Franks quick scribbled handwriting, was a message on each side.   
“Stay away from me. The more time you spend, the more they know.”   
And on the other side,  
“But if you do decide to stay,  
I won’t let them take you away..” 

Gerard bolted awake, his sheets tangled around his feet, hair plastered messily to his face with sweat. He was panting heavily and blinking rapidly, his heart thumping way too fast in his chest to be considered healthy. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath, trying to calm his speeding heart.   
He stood up on wobbly legs and wandered out into the kitchen, where a single light was turned on and flickering, and it was the only thing he could see. His mouth went dry and he opened it and then shut it again. He flipped on a light, or, tried to, but all that happened was it made a faint buzzing noise, then short circuited. Gerard let out a shaky sigh and tried to stay calm, pulling down the sleeves of his thin gray sweater and picking at imaginary lint on his boxers. He couldn’t bring himself to walk forwards for a good five or ten minutes, until he heard a breathy little sigh and a felt a whiff of air pass his face, blowing his tousled hair a bit. He froze completely, then heard a tiny whisper that could have easily been the wind, or a branch against his window, but to Gerard it sounded very clearly like a small,fragile,  
“Goodnight.” Then it was gone, the light turned back on, and Gerard could breath and move without difficulty again. He stepped forward and sluggishly poured himself a glass of water, his fingers trembling and his whole arm shaking, but for the first time since he climbed out of Frank’s Volvo, he didn’t feel like he was being watched in a bad way. It felt almost like a protection. So he padded back into his bedroom, closed and locked the door, laid back down, and tried to get some sleep.   
Needless to say, that didn’t happen.   
He only dared open his eyes when he heard a very loud clink on the end table next to him. He let his eyes flutter open, heart clenching in fear, and slowly sat up. There, right on the nightstand beside his bed, was a long, shiny knife, a phrase carved into either side, and a little note. With wide eyes and a racing heart, he picked up the note.   
Gerard.   
I know you feel it. This wasn’t supposed to happen here. Im too selfish, though. Stay away. It’s already starting. Protect yourself by distancing yourself. I won’t stay away, it has to be you. Refuse, refuse, refuse, right? But if you choose to be near me, don’t ask what’ll happen until I’m ready to tell you.   
So long, and goodnight.   
Gerard squeezed his eyes shut, threw the note on the floor, and rolled to the other side of his bed, throwing the blankets over his head.   
The next morning was full of anxiety and restlessness. The knife was still there (he simply shoved it into his closet in a shoe box), and so was Gerard’s fear. He knew in the very depths of his soul, that he had to stay away from Frank, and yet that dream he’d had only made him wish to see him more. He skipped breakfast, his stomach was doing too many flips to eat, anyways, and carefully got dressed, through on his black and gray scarf, and slipped on his shoes.   
At six thirty, Gerard’s worry was off the charts. He knew he had to get into that car with Frank, but he had no idea what was going to happen once he did. When he heard the purr of the engine and a little beep, he stepped outside, mind numbingly afraid, his bag clutched right in his hands.   
Frank looked over at him with dark, sullen eyes. “You comin’?” He asked, eyes narrowing a little. Gerard took a deep breath and nodded. This was all some crazy shit, but Gerard was an adult. He could take care of himself. Frank made two facial expressions then. One was a look of glee, the corners of his eyes crinkling with his grin. The second was a look of great intensity, like he was screaming at Gerard through a facial expression ‘no no no’. The first one took over though, and Gerard, despite himself, found himself smiling right back. Albeit nervously, but still.   
Frank unlocked the doors and Gerard hesitated before climbing in, but Frank’s little taps he was making against the wheel to the beat of the stereo was enough to convince him. He shut the door behind him and looked at Frank curiously, and, despite how he felt yesterday, he felt strangely safe in Franks company. They chatted a little during the car ride.   
Gerard found out a few things about Frank. His favorite color was blue (“the night sky blue,” he’d clarified. “All that bright blue shit it gross.” Gerard had laughed), he loved dogs, he was constantly getting sick, he played guitar, and that he’d moved to Echo because his other school had kicked him out (although he wouldn’t say why). It was enough to make Gerard feel comfortable around him, at least, now that he knew some things. So in return, Gerard had told him a few things about himself.   
He also found out that Frank had the very strange ability to make him laugh, literally about anything. And then when Gerard laughed, he’d get to see Franks too high pitched giggle that came out whenever he made Gerard laugh. It was different, though, than how he’d laughed in the dream. Upon realizing this, he’d just shuddered and tried to think about something else.   
Once they’d arrived at the school, Frank turned to him, his face serious. “When you leave this car, I don’t expect you to speak to me again. Your car is fixed and in this lot. Drive it home today. But if you ask for a ride home tonight during study hall, then that’s what you’ve chosen.” He unlocked the doors and kept the car running. Gerard looked at him, confused.   
“You’re not coming?” He asked. Frank smiled and played with his lip ring.   
“Nah, I got a few things I gotta do. I’ll be in study hall though.” He assured him. “See ya, Mr. Way.” Gerard turned around from where he’d stepped out of the car, and bit his lip.   
“Gerard. I— um.. Call me Gerard.” Frank beamed at him and locked the doors again.   
“Okay, Gerard. See ya.” Then the car pulled away, but even after it had long faded, Gerard could see that smile in his mind.   
Gerard was maybe, possibly, mildly distracted at work today. All of his irritating coworkers were noticing it, too. Well, not all of them were irritating.   
Pete Wentz, the language arts teacher across the hall, for example, was a pretty alright dude. He had a really nice husband named Patrick add a little baby girl who both came in to visit him on his lunch breaks, which Gerard always thought was sweet. He’d seen the two of them get together— It was Pete’s first year teaching, Patrick was a senior, they talked all the time, and once Patrick graduated, they saw each other again a few months later when Patrick had come back to get recommendations for colleges from his teacher, and well.. It just sorta happened. They’d been an inseparable, gag inducingly giggly, heartwarming couple, ever since. They’d just gotten married last year, and adopted a baby a few months ago.   
They, too lived closer to a city, because being gay and living in a town as small as Echo wasn’t really the greatest idea.   
But anyways, Pete was a pretty understanding guy, so it was him who Gerard finally decided to open up to a little bit, since he wouldn’t judge or think he was insane. So when Pete had asked if everything was okay during their prep period, he’d spilled everything— the car, his irrational fear he felt at first, the dream, the mumbled ‘goodnight’, the knife on Gerard’s bedside table, and Frank’s creepily cryptic message. Pete listened with open ears and nodded the whole time.   
“But that probably sounds insane, doesn’t it?” He finished. Pete looked thoughtful.   
“Well, I mean, yes, it does sound quite odd. Odd, but possible. And of course I believe you, you look so frantic and have no reason to make any of that up. Hang on a sec..” he pulled out his phone. “Lemme call Pat and see what he thinks. He’s a paranormal investigator, y'know.” He stated proudly. “I’ve heard him talk about something like that before, I think.” He pressed the phone to his ear and smiled once Patrick answered. “Hi, yep, everything’s fine, don’t worry. I just.. could you come here on my lunch break? Gerard and I have a few questions.” He paused and giggled. “Okay, thanks, love you too. Bye.” He set his phone down and smiled triumphantly at Gerard. “Pats gonna come by during lunch, and we’ll talk to him about it then.” Gerard gave him a grateful look.   
“Thank you.” Pete nodded and sighed.   
“Seriously, do they not know how to spell check anything?” He asked, gesturing to the paper he was grading. Gerard laughed. 

Once lunch rolled around, Patrick skipped into Pete’s classroom, kissed his cheek, and sat down in a desk next to Gerard.   
“Hey, Gee. How’s it goin?” He asked. Gerard shrugged and smiled.   
“Could be better.” Pete smiled at his husband.   
“But that’s why you’re here. Hopefully you know something that can help us out.” Patrick nodded agreeably and looked back over at Gerard.   
“So what questions do you have?”   
Gerard re-explained the whole story to Patrick this time. When he finished, Patrick he pulled out a little paper file he’d brought with him, and was digging through it intently.   
“Where… There it is!” Patrick excitedly pulled out a small little newspaper clipping. “A few years back, when I first.. ‘apprenticed’ I guess would be the word, for my friend Gabe, he had a case. One that sounded exactly like this. He heard about a boy in New Jersey, he was like sixteen or seventeen, from this real old guy. He was there when the guy was fifteen, and went to his school. Well, apparently weird shit was always happening around this boy, and apparently, in the middle of the night one night, he got taken from his room. There were clear signs of struggle, like, there was no doubting that this was a kidnapping, not just some angsty teenage boy running away at two am.   
I was there when we talked to the older guy, and that had happened years ago. He remembered because it was a huge deal, because it was a small town with almost no crime. They spent months and months looking for this kid, but nothing was ever found, until the guy telling us this was like fifty five. It had been fifty years since that kid disappeared, his parents were long deceased, and the police found a crumpled little note in the middle of the woods that said, ‘They got me.’ In the boys handwriting.   
So fast forward another forty five years, to when we interviewed this guy. He was the only one left who ever remembered or met that kid. Everyone else was dead. He told us that just the year before, he was sitting on his porch, and in the woods, he heard screaming. Loud, pained screaming. And he was from the country, so he knew the difference between a rabbit screaming and a human scream. He said he’d never been more sure it was a human in his life. So even though he was old, he was concerned, and he went into the woods to see what was going on.   
When he did, he saw nothing for a while, and then he saw two men in black hockey masks, clearly following somebody, with two, huge pistols in their hands. He stayed where he was out of fear, and once they’d passed, he heard someone laughing. It sounded like it was coming from up, so he glanced up at the trees and in a branch, clear as day, was the same boy who’d disappeared ninety four years earlier. He was the exact same age, looked the exact same, and when the man looked at him in shock, he giggled again and raised a finger slowly to his lips. All he said was, ‘maybe they got me then, but they’ll never get me now.’.” Patrick finished his story. Gerard was staring at him with his mouth agape and his eyes wide.   
“He desperately asked Gabe to help him figure out what was going on. But as hard as Gabe tried, he couldn’t. He searched for information for at least two years, but came up with anything more than the same details, hockey masks, a teenager, and the teenagers clear preference of avoiding people.” Patrick furrowed his eyebrows, then his face cleared. “Hm.”   
“What?” Pete asked fascinatedly.   
“I just realized, it’s been one hundred years since that kid got kidnapped. I wonder if that has anything to do with what’s happening.” Gerard reached a hand out.   
“Let me see that paper? Does it say his name?” Patrick handed it over and glanced at Gerard curiously. The article read:  
Local Teenager Goes Missing  
Last night, 17 year old Frank Iero was seemingly taken from his bedroom on Echo Drive around midnight. The police have warned the public to be very safe when out and about, not travel alone, and be indoors with all doors and windows locked by ten pm. If you have any information on Frank, report it to the authorities immediately.   
Gerard gripped the paper tightly and swallowed hard.   
“That’s..” Patrick raised his eyebrows.   
“That’s him?” He asked. Gerard nodded wordlessly.   
“You’re sure?” Again, Gerard nodded.   
“Okay. I’ll call Gabe tonight, but until then, avoid him as much as you can, Gee. I’m serious, this is dangerous. Before Frank disappeared, various people he was close to were being taken, too. Whoever wanted Frank Iero dead wanted everyone he was associated with dead, too.” He warned. Gerard wasn’t sure he knew how to do anything but nod anymore.   
After lunch had ended and Patrick had left, Gerard went into the bathroom before his next class. He stared at his reflection, breathing heavily, he splashed water onto his face and tried to look like he was okay, and then wandered back into his classroom. He told his class that today was a study hall day, a few kids had given him worried glances and asked if he was alright, but the class had basically all agreed to be quiet today, because he looked like he needed it.   
Gerard’s anxiety built up again as the time ticked by, at the thought of being with frank, and at the thought of being without him. As terrifying as their situation was, he felt strangely protected when Frank was around, especially now that he knew more, and knew that Frank wasn’t a danger to him, it was whoever was after Frank. He’d have to ask who exactly that was.   
By the time his study hall started up, he was one big ball of nerves. He chewed on his thumbnail absentmindedly and picked at the peeling wood of his desk. The bell rang, and with it came the opening and closing of a door. Frank hesitantly stepped inside the classroom and sat down in his desk. It was silent for awhile, before Gerard looked up at Frank, who was staring at him and biting the eraser of his pencil. He knew he wasn’t supposed to talk to Frank, he knew that. But he couldn’t stop himself from opening his mouth.   
“I need a ride home.” He blurted out. Franks face slowly faded into a sweet smile and he scratched his neck a little.   
“Okay.”


End file.
